we are all made of stars

The Cardiff team suggests that radioactive elements can keep water in liquid form in comet interiors for millions of years, making them potentially ideal “incubators” for early life. They also point out that the billions of comets in our solar system and across the galaxy contain far more clay than the early Earth did. The researchers calculate the odds of life starting on Earth rather than inside a comet at one trillion trillion (10 to the power of 24) to one against (emphasis added).

The technical name for this theory is panspermia, which invites its own lewd metaphorical joke. But maybe Tim Leary was right — ashes to ashes, dust to dust, from outer space to outer space.